For centuries, rumors have circulated in Japan about a ghost story so horrific that people die of fright soon after hearing it.

The dreadful tale -- known as "Cow Head" -- appears to date back at least to the early 17th century. Several known written accounts from this era make reference to the awful story, but they merely mention its title and describe it as a tale too terrible to tell.

The actual details of the story remain a mystery to this day, because those with the misfortune of knowing it usually do not live long enough to repeat it. According to the rumors, most people who read or hear the story are overcome with a fear so great that they tremble violently for days on end, until they die.

Although most people nowadays regard the tale as a complete fabrication, rumors of its existence have strangely survived, passing from generation to generation by word of mouth. Some theories suggest the rumors gained new life in the 1960s, after science fiction writer Sakyo Komatsu wrote a short story (titled "Cow Head") based on the old tale. There is no hard evidence supporting this claim, though.

In any case, references to the rumored story occasionally pop up in conversation and online.

One recent account tells of an elementary school teacher who told the "Cow Head" story to his poor students while the class was on a school trip. According to the account, the teacher was entertaining the students on the bus with ghost stories. The students, who tended to become unruly on long trips, grew remarkably subdued as they listened to the teacher speak. Many of them seemed truly frightened by the stories he told.

After some time, the teacher announced he would tell a tale called "Cow Head." Before he could finish the first sentence of the story, however, the children began to panic. "Stop!" they cried. "Don't tell us!" One child turned pale and covered his ears, and the others began to scream. But the teacher did not stop. His eyes went blank and he proceeded with the story as if some unseen force had taken over his mind.

Later, after the teacher regained his senses, he found that the bus had stopped moving. The students had all fainted and were frothing at the mouth. The driver lay slumped over the wheel, sweating and shivering. It is unclear what happened next, except that the teacher never told the story again.

57 Comments

Sakura ShinRa

LOL, it's good to be rational. But to answer your question, the teacher 'survived' because this is an example of the perfect urban legend. It has obscure origins shrouded in mystery, there are numerous differing accounts....and No Actual Story. That is the source of the legend's brilliance and probably why it endures. Everyone's heard of Cow head, but, nobody knows anything about Cow head. Even the name is not scary, it's kind of silly, but when you read the numerous tales of people who've supposedly heard the story or bits of it, your mind starts to try and fill in the gaps, create the story of Cow head and figure out what could be so terrifying.

CTrees

shatterhoof

Oh come on, you mean to tell me this story has never been transcribed, even partially, for all this time? And much of the annecdote mentioned at the end of the article doesn't make sense. Apart from the question of how the teacher survived telling the story himself, it remains to be seen how anyone could report that his 'eyes had glazed over' or that he seemed 'possessed', since presumably everyone in earshot was affected.

How did the teacher learn the story himself? Surely hearing or reading it in the first place is just as lethal to him as to his students?

LMA

Sam

There is a Cow Head story. It's about a little girl named Oksana who gets rewarded for her compassion despite the thing she shows compassion towards is a floating cow head. :p If you don't believe me then google it. That is......if you dare.

pou cooke

zeyangggg

that's not the real cow head story -_- The Tokyo National Museum had possessions of the text but they did not have any idea about it haha. the beginning of the story had been posted in some websites but you can never find the whole story in the internet unless there's someone who knows and is not kj enough to post. holy strawberries people! it's just a story. it wont kill you like duh? why so naive and ignorant -_-

Sakura ShinRa

@Shatterhoof I think you're missing the point of an urban legend. An urban legend is always lacunal and it's supposed to be open to question. The listener's job is to be sceptical while the narrator tries his best convince his audience. Don't take it out on the Pink Tentacle.

Andrew Perkins

lagore

Would it be possible for you to add an "about" or "information" section to your site? Because I love coming here, but I can't figure out what this site is about. What's it's purpose? Sometimes it seems to be just about weird Japanese stuff, but there's other Western parts thrown in too. Can someone help me out here? I don't even know how to describe this site to friends.

moonjungle

the cow head ... (i suck at telling stories so no ones gonna die after listening to it)
once upon a time in olden days japan ... there was a village
the villagers were peaceful people who lived off of their farm and supported themselves ...
they did not believe in the violent ways of the other villages so their village were built in a remote spot where others could not find them ...
one year a horrific famine hit the land ... nothing would grow ...
even the threes and grass started dying off ...
villagers soon reluctantly resorted eating their cattle and pets ...
everyday people sink their teeth into old rotting meat as the animals have died for days ...
those who decided not to eat their prescious pets (horses dogs you know that stuff) died off ...
the peaceful village turn into a mass burial hole ... everywhere there are rotting corpses ... people starven to death ...
one day ... that fateful day ... a hungry man crawled into the village ...
a man with a cow's head crawled into the village
he was attacked ... by the once peaceful villagers ...
he was brutally beaten which then resulted in cannibalism ...
they ate the poor man alive ... the villagers ignored the screams of the man as he died in pain ...

then i forgot how the story ends ...
thats how the story goes ... japan had all the prints of the book burnt because it caused such a big scene with people ... those who are ... collectors or weird enough some how kept a copy or two which leaked out a few years back ...
it was scarier back then ... like the first starwars was a crazy thing for people back then

Lastexile

ELBSeattle

'Gozu' is a film by Takashi Miike. The word 'gozu' translates as 'cow head.' As I recall it is also a Buddhist demon. (I didn't know Buddhism had demons, but I'm no expert). Fantastic film. Freaky and funny and just damned bizarre.

Erling Stoehr

emmy92

haunteddreams

iv heard the story... i did not foam at the mouth or anything but wen i think back to the story it fills me with fear, gives me nightmares makes me scream like a little girl. some of you may not believe me but the story isnt something to go looking for but if u must hear it i am obligrd to pass it on its not my story to keep

titsmagits

hellopanda

wow stupid guy told it wrong my grand dad told me it hes from tokyo he used to live in the west side in a farm. (story)= okay here the true original... one night a lady who owned a farm ran it by herself. she lived near river that trailed/led to a town but one night she gets a knock on her door and its a man with a cow head she scared but does not know what to do . she invites him in and feeds him and letd him stay. she ran to town threw the river she did not notice that no one would beleive her she goes check back if gozu is still there . soon she notices her house is dark she goes and check around ... no ones there............ ill tell the disturbing parts when u ask.

Nomfundo

Nomfundo

miez

Cow Head: A lond time ago, 1776 in Japan, there lived a young woman called Hasouchi and her son Masawka.In winter, it was very cold there and they didn't have much money, but they did own a cow from Hasouchi's father, who died.He told them that they must slice open the cow and seep in it for winter, but never take it out in the summer, otherwise bad things would happen.Masawka and Hasouchi were delighted with the cow, and sliced it finely open, they then cut out a hole in the head, poked a massive hole through the nostrils and plucked out the eyes so that they coud fit their heads in.They cut off the legs and tail of the cow then smothered foxes fur al over the inside, cleaning it and making it nice and cosy.They lived in a hut that was not warm at all, so the cow would be of great help to them.In the winter Masawka and Hasouchi would curl up in the cows body and be nice and warm, in the summer, they just resorted to natural weather which kept them warm.The cows body did them good in the winter months, and once they even let an old neighbour use their cow, and they got money for it! But one day, in the summer, a cold breeze blew that made Masawka and Hasouchi very cold.They were scared of getting Hypothermia, so, they took one look at the cow and dived into it.BANG.They were blacked out. When they woke up they realised the hut had blown away into the horizon and there were big storm clouds.Hasouchi looked up to see the ghost of her father. ” You have cursed me with my only devil left!!! ” he said, outraged ” Now I cannot repay Satan!!! A terrible thing will happen to you!!! ” and with that he cast his index finger at the clouds, as lightning struck down and out of the lighting appeared a small mob of rival city inhabitants.Hasouchi screamed then shoved herself and Masawka into the cow head to hide from the mob.She could hear her fathers voice directing the mob to her and her son.She held Masawka tight as tears ran down her face with every footstep, closer and closer then to a stop.She peered out of a stitch in the cow to see a large man standing outside of the cow with an axe.He was smiling.She covered her mouth with her hand and screamed then shuffled up her head into the cows head.She thought the man would get confused to where to chop her or her son in half, as the cow was very big and baggy.He looked at the head, just in time to see a white eye staring at him.He brang the axe down on her head and it sliced right off, inside the cows head.Masawka was terribly scared, he ran out of the top of the cows open neck and into the woods, his clothes stained with blood.The mob were very hungry, but they somehow refused to eat anything but human or cow, today was a lucky day for them, so they ate both, each one taking a big long and deep chew. That night the man who had had the axe started choking inside his house.He began holding his neck and coughing.His wife starting panicking and rang a bell to summon his friends.They surrounded him as he lay on the floor, dieing.He then got up as his eyes turned completely red.He then turned to his best guard and coughed up a ball of something black and white in his face, it was the cows head. ” それは生きている ！牛の頭は生きている ！ ” said his guard. (Sorry guys, just had to let that bit be original :P) Everybody screamed.The cows head started swirling around on the floor then levitating up and up and up, until it fell down on the guards head.He cried out for help as the cow turned its head down to him,opened its mouth and swallowed him whole.Nobody dared to be next, so they all ran away,all except the man with the axe, which he had left in Hasouchi’s neck.

Suddenly the door burst open, and a headless Hasouchi came crashing in,holding Masawka by the neck. ” You ran away ” Hasouchi whispered in his ear. ” I loved you,but you decieved me.Why didn’t you die with your mother? “.Masawka started screaming and croaking as he was suffocating ” I , I don’t want to die ” he gurgled.
Then, out of nowhere, an axe appeared in Hasouchi’s hand. “You’re going to die how I died,then you’re next ” there was a pause before she turned to her killer ” Yes,you’re next,Campikocha ” . ” How do you know my name? ” he cried ” I know everything, the cows power is smart ” she replied.Then, in a flash, the axe came down on Masawkas head.It fell off,, and she kicked it to the cow,before chucking Masawkas body into a sand pit.
The cow stood a step before the head, as the cows head hopped forward,then also swallowed Masawkas head whole.Its head started shaking and twirling about then came to a stop. ” This is too much for your living ” it croaked ” I must take over now “. It levitated once again in the air and flew at Hasouchi, she dropped to the floor, dead, as a clone of her popped up at her side.The cow had disappeared,but appeared on the living Hasouchi’s head, then she raised up her top to show blood dripping from words on her chest saying 牛の頭を触れないでくださいまたは地獄にドロップします.She flew out of the room into the sky, where she dropped into some foreign country.
She still lives there to this day, with her cow head, and one day, if you’re unlucky, the person to meet her might be you. But be warned , she will kill you with the axe
don't think it's the original because the guy started like this "Guys!!!I found it!!!THE REAL STORY!!!!! I went to a hiking trip in Japan and where we were camping there was a big hole, I looked in it and found a Book with a cow print on the front, its really old, and in Japanese, so I have translated it into English. PS It kinda does make you insane but in a weird way, you will feel alone, and you cannot think of many things but the cow head. Here it goes"

No

bloom799

I want to see the real story its said to be really scary but how come not not any site i find total different stories this one in the comments is different from the one i saw it was about a girl whose father had a second marriage and because they grew poor her stepmother told her father to leave her in a wood cabin and then after some time at night the cow head appeared in front of her and asked for helped and then she helped him and in the morning where he slept there was gold!! and all that stuff and her father returned to her and take her with him. This is how it goes and the other was really crazy.